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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LogosKaiMysterion" data-source="post: 7768027" data-attributes="member: 6959932">(This isn't to deride the Pathfinder cover, just to defend the 3rd edition cover).Third edition still suggests action and adventure, but in a different, subtle way. Familiarity with 3rd edition has bred contempt for it as a "boring reference," but imagine what it was like to see it for the first time in 2000, a time of uncertainty for D&D after the transition to Wizards of the Coast. WotC went for something different than the usual "here's artwork of adventurers," it went with something that looked like an in-game artifact of a fantastic but grounded quasi-medieval world. Those tomes promised of a world of adventure to find such artifacts, a world of epic adventure, intrigue, and combat. And what's more, it had a level of production value and detail that wasn't possible before. The tomes, with their detail, was a microcosm of the worlds to which they belonged and to which they promised to transport players.The 3rd edition cover art was perfect for its time, and probably wouldn't have worked with a game of lesser pedigree, or without the level of polish and detail it had, or if it were repeated (which, let's face it, it was repeated throughout the whole 3rd edition run, which probably wore out its welcome). Nevertheless, it's still my favorite (even if the AD&D 1e PHB was arguable better), just because of the impact it had on me when seeing it for the first time.</blockquote>

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